United Cardinal Bloggers Progressive Game Blog

Welcome back to the annual Progressive Game Blog. For the last four years, the United Cardinal Bloggers have come together to tell the story of an entire game from multiple voices on multiple sites.

This year, not only will you find the voices of many members of the UCB, you will also find some of our friendly Mets bloggers describing the game from their own standpoint. You can read all of the entries by following along through the main “index” post over at the official UCB Site.

The Cardinals come to the plate in the top of the third down by three runs as the Mets plated three in the bottom of the second (read about the second inning over at Cards N Stuff. Young centerfielder Shane Robinson will look to get the Redbirds started in front of pitcher Lance Lynn and the top of the order.

A Texas League single to right put the lead off man on board but an all to familiar story unfolded with Lance Lynn at the plate. On three consecutive pitches, Lynn was unable to push a bunt into fair territory, and the opportunity to move the runner up 90 feet passed the Cardinals by. Unable to move the runner into scoring position or out of a force play situation proves once again to be fatal as lead off hitter Rafael Furcal grounds into an inning-ending double play. Give Shane Robinson credit for a solid attempt to break up the double play as Daniel Murphy attempted to make the turn.

A quick aside as we wait for the bottom of the third inning to play out: I don’t think I have seen any other team in baseball represented as well on the road as the St. Louis Cardinals. No matter what city they visit, there is almost always a strong representation of Cardinal red in the crowd. Not to be out done in New York, there is a young lady sitting directly behind the plate sporting the familiar bright red cap adorned with the white STL logo.

What Lynn lacks in ability to drop a bunt, he more than makes up for on the mound. After a rough second inning, he took the mound to face the middle of the Mets’ order, starting with cleanup hitter Lucas Duda. After falling behind Duda, Lynn battled back to get him to fly out to left fielder Matt Holliday. Daniel Murphy would follow with a fly ball towards the right-center field gap, but the defensive positioning was in place to make it a routine out for Carlos Beltran. Young Mets first baseman Ike Davis would fall behind in the count early and yet work a walk out of Lynn. After falling behind shortstop Omar Quintanilla, Lynn battles back for his second strikeout of the game and keeps the Mets from causing any more damage.

Working deep into counts is hurting Lynn early on in this game and his pitch count is climbing to out of control proportions as he closes the third with 71 pitches, 41 of which are strikes. At this rate, the game will soon be in the hands of the Cardinals’ bullpen. It feels strange to say that any game in the hands of this bullpen is a major concern at this point. If the Cardinals hope to pull this one out, they will need to get some offense going and some efficient innings for their starter.

Head over to Rally Birds to check out the top of the fourth inning. Thanks for stopping by our corner of the Cardinals web-o-sphere to check out or commentary. Here’s hoping this game turns around quickly.